“Ah… ah… ah…”
From behind the huge boulder came soft, ragged moans, the kind that made a person’s face burn.
Filthy. Hard to listen to.
Vivienne Ashford followed that all-too-familiar voice around the rock. The moment she stepped behind it, her whole body froze.
A man and a woman were tangled together, both bare, shamelessly entwined.
Her eyes went wide. She clapped a hand over her mouth, hardly believing what she was seeing.
“You… what are you doing?!”
Serena Ashford let out a shrill cry and shoved the man off her. In a panic, she snatched up the clothes scattered on the ground and wrapped them around herself, trying to hide her body.
Her cheeks were flushed red, her breathing uneven. Even her voice shook.
“S-second Sister… y-you… why are you here?”
Serena was flustered out of her mind.
But the man beside her was in no hurry at all. He bent down, picked up his clothes, and his face was full of irritation.
“What rotten timing.”
Serena hid behind him, clutching at her clothes, her voice full of fear.
“Jingshan, Second Sister saw us. What do we do?”
Bernie Whitmore said flatly, “So what if she saw? What’s the big deal?”
The instant Vivienne saw his face clearly, her mind gave a violent buzz, as if thunder had exploded inside her skull.
She went numb.
Her raised hand trembled so badly she could barely point at them.
“You… how could you do this to me?!”
One was her own younger sister.
The other was her betrothed.
And these two had been sneaking around behind her back, doing something so foul, so filthy.
Vivienne’s eyes reddened at once. Tears swirled in them, but would not fall.
This was the sister who had always acted closest to her, sweetest to her.
And this was what Serena had done.
Her throat tightened. Her voice came out broken.
“Serena… you are His Highness Adrian Whitmore’s fiancée. How could you betray him? How could you betray me too?”
Serena wiped at her tears as she spoke, crying so hard her shoulders shook.
“Sister, I know I was wrong. Please, you must not tell His Highness. If he finds out, it won’t just be me who dies. The whole Ashford family will be dragged down with me.”
As she said that, she rushed forward and threw herself at Vivienne’s legs, clutching them and begging.
Vivienne looked down at her, her heart twisting so hard it felt like flesh being ripped apart.
Behind them, Bernie still moved at an easy pace, as if none of this had anything to do with him. He put on his clothes one piece at a time, then drew his belt tight around his waist.
He strode over, yanked Serena Ashford to her feet, and pulled her behind him.
“Serena, why are you begging her?” Bernie Whitmore sneered, his voice sharp as gravel. “She’s just an ugly freak. What, are we supposed to be afraid of her?”
Vivienne Ashford raised a hand and covered her face. Her teeth sank into her lower lip.
That was the wound she had carried all her life.
When she was eleven, one accident had torn everything apart. In one night, she had fallen from a proud daughter of heaven into a ruined, ugly waste. Every time she thought of the scar on her face, shame crawled into her bones. It made her want to dig a hole and bury herself where no one could see her.
And now the man she had once loved was not only tangled up with her own younger sister right in front of her eyes—he was ripping open that old wound and grinding salt into the flesh.
“Jingshan, you…”
Bernie looked at her with naked disgust. “Enough. Just hearing you say my name turns my stomach. Look at yourself. You’re that ugly and still dare to show your face outside? Aren’t you afraid you’ll scare someone to death in the middle of the night?”
Each word hit like a blade, one stab after another, carving straight into her chest.
“Jingshan, how can you say that to me?”
Bernie did not soften in the slightest. “So what if I do? I’ll tell you plain and clear—I like Serena. You can’t compare to her face, you can’t compare to her cultivation, and your temper is even worse than hers. You really think you amount to something?”
Vivienne’s jaw tightened. Fury and humiliation churned in her chest until her whole body shook.
“You…” she bit out, voice trembling. “I’m going to expose you both. If you won’t let me live in peace, then don’t dream of having your way either. I’ll make sure the whole world knows what you’ve done!”
Serena panicked at once. Her face went pale, and she grabbed at Bernie’s sleeve like a drowning girl clutching driftwood.
“Jingshan, what do we do? If His Highness Adrian Whitmore finds out…” Her voice quivered. “We’re finished. All of us.”
Bernie’s eyes darkened.
Without another word, he took a hard step forward and blocked Vivienne’s path. His hand shot out and clamped around her throat.
The grip tightened.
“You want to run?” His voice was cold, cruel. “Not that easy.”
Vivienne’s face changed color under his hand. First red, then purple, then a ghastly blue. Veins bulged across her skin. The scar on her face stood out all the more, savage and glaring, like an old wound split open again.
Her breath caught. Her fingers clawed at his wrist, but his hand was like an iron vise. No matter how she struggled, she could not pry him loose. Air thinned. Her chest burned. Fear rushed over her at last, icy and sharp.
Serena stood to the side, eyes full of tears, looking weak and pitiful as ever.
“Jingshan…” she said softly, shaking, “do we really have to do this? She… she is my sister.”
Bernie’s gaze turned colder by the breath, killing intent rising in it little by little.
“If she doesn’t die,” he said, each word hard and merciless, “then we do.”
